1. How did you both meet?
We met way back in the beginning of 2000 whilst both working for a Nottingham based recruitment agency. We hit it off and have remained friends ever since.
2. How did you know you would make great business partners?
Well, we both have the same silly sense of humour!! We are very good at finishing each other’s sentences and knowing what the other person means, but in all seriousness, our morals, vision, and work ethic are all aligned. At that point, we had formed a solid friendship, so we knew we could be honest with one another. Even our dogs, Jack and Daniel, are best friends.
3. Where did you first base the business?
Initially, while we were setting up from our spare bedrooms!! Then, before we knew it, we were sat in our first office on Albert Street, Mansfield we still remember the feeling of opening the door that very first day filled with so much excitement and butterflies thinking, what now!!! It started as just the two of us, but slowly, the team grew, and 5 years later, we took on a much bigger office for our growing team in The Railway station in Mansfield.
4. What are the biggest challenges you have faced in business?
There have been a few for sure!! Not long after we started, there was the Great Recession. As hard as it was, we helped each other stay positive. There were a few scary moments when invoices were unpaid, and jobs were pulled.
We stayed focused, networked locally to raise our profile and worked all hours to cram everything in.
Most businesses can relate to the challenge of COVID. We weren’t even sure we would have a business left initially. We had just fully refurbished our offices to have to move out. All we could do was sit anxiously, waiting for the outcome.
5. What is your favourite part of recruitment?
Helping candidates progress their careers and finding them roles that they love.
Our candidates have sometimes become clients, and we’ve developed into a long-term trusted business relationship.
The loyalty of our clients is never something we take for guaranteed. We take great pride in our client relationships and its a delight to know they repeatedly choose to work TurnerFox for their recruitment needs.
6. What have been your biggest achievements?
We feel fortunate to have the loveliest loyal clients. We’ve worked with some of our clients for so long that from a simple, quick phone call, we can handle their recruitment from start to finish with little input. There is trust and understanding that we’ll get it done the first time without them having to waste too much of their valuable time.
7. How did you feel reaching the milestones of 5 and 10 years in business?
We have achieved so much within the first 5 years during an era that evolved into digitalisation and nurturing a growing team.
When we reached the 10-year milestone, we felt established and confident in our abilities as recruiters and business people. We wanted to share this incredible achievement, so we threw a big party to thank our staff, clients, family, and friends for supporting us and believing in us.
It was a party to remember or not, depending on how you left the building!!! We certainly enjoyed celebrating together.
8. What has been the most significant change you’ve seen in the recruitment industry over the years?
The recruitment industry is a million miles away from when we first started. We’ve gone from waiting for adverts to be placed in newspapers and hoping the phone would ring and faxing clients over CV’s to everything becoming digital and instantaneous.
Since 2020, people want instant results and don’t want to spend time coming into our offices, so a lot is now virtual, which enables us to run the business from home and work around our family life rather than facing the daily commute. During that time, we had to pivot frequently—the industry went from an influx of candidates to a candidate shortage, which certainly kept us on our toes.
9. What have been your funniest moments over the last 16 years?
One of our temps was accidentally locked in our client’s office on Friday when they all left for the weekend. She called us for help with the alarm going on in the background. Once we got hold of the client and she was released, she did see the funny side.
While working alone on a Saturday morning in the Albert Street office, Connie forgot about her toast in the toaster. Twenty minutes later, the fire brigade arrived, and all of the local offices were evacuated, including the children’s dance studio, where the children stood in tutus in the car park.
Michelle’s dog dragged her down, and she fell a full flight of stairs. All whilst everyone was watching on the CCTV, the marks on the wall from her red nail vanished and remained a constant reminder for weeks!!
10. How do you balance your friendship with running a business together?
There is much discussion about AI in recruitment, and while there is truth in the potential implications, it has many unknowns. However, technology will undoubtedly help streamline the recruitment process, as it has done over the past 20 years.
Candidates now lose interest in roles if the recruitment process takes too much time, so as technology continues to advance, we expect to see new tools and strategies emerge that will help companies find and recruit the best candidates more quickly.
11. How do you balance your friendship with running a business together?
We always keep the lines of communication open; like we said before, we’ve created a unique bond. We respect each other’s space, opinions and decisions. We also tag team the business and will take over when one another is on holiday to ensure we can genuinely recharge, knowing the other has everything under control.
12. What is the secret to staying positive when faced with challenges in industry?
Our sense of humour—we will always try to have fun and lift each other during tough times.
Recruitment is always a roller-coaster as we deal with people, and people can be unpredictable by nature. The positive feedback from candidates and clients uplifts us, and keeps us motivated and ready for the next challenge.
13. How has your family and work life changed over the last 16 years?
When we first started, we only had ourselves to consider,
Then we started having children, and honestly, it became difficult to leave the house early. Not getting in until sometimes very late at night was a strain, not spending time with family.
Then came the pandemic, which turned everything on its head. We now work from home and in a more structured yet relaxed way.
Now, with 3 kids under 13 and two dogs to take onboard, we balance the joys of school runs, clubs, and more. The business works around the chaos that family life can bring, and our clients understand that we are very family-oriented.
14. Tell us about your most memorable placement.
Tallagh – who we interviewed and placed with us…She started as an administrator and is now a key member of the TurnerFox Teams, supporting both Connie and Michelle and our clients and candidates for nearly 6 years now.
15. How did you measure success?
Our experience and willingness to create a better work life balance.
We’ve still here after the Great Recession and a Global pandemic answering 16 questions in honour of our 16th year in business proves we have made a success of things.
While you need a business to be profitable, we need it to be enjoyable and to make us happy. Of course, being able to pay the mortgage is always a good sign!!
16. What is your vision for the business?
We’ve tried various other sectors over the years and changed business models over time, but right here, right now, we are so balanced between business and family life that it might sound like a cliché, but our vision is to keep going exactly as we are.
We want to continue to do what we do best: placing fantastic candidates within brilliant, thriving local companies.